As this year comes to a close, it has been an exciting day: severe weather, tornadoes, straight-line winds... We were lucky in that all we got was the rain and thunder/lightening. Still, the winds were bad enough that the back door blew open and Po decided to take himself for a very wet run. The girls were first out the door after him, with Brie falling on the conrete and giving herself a lovely purple bruise on her knee. The boys followed, but came back soaked, saying that they needed a car to head him off. I got the keys and headed for the van, and parked next to the cemetary and the bridge over the creek after seeing him head that way along the edge of the creek... I opened the van side door as the rain poured into it, and stood outside calling Po to me (while the girls were still running behind him). He debated briefly going under the bridge, but decided to climb the embankment and jumped into the van on his own. I slammed the door behind him, and heard the girls yelling for me not to leave without them. We were all soaked to the skin by the time we were back in the van, and I had to stop in the cemetary to wipe off my glasses to see to drive: they were wet and fogged! The storms have now passed and I think we are out from under the Tornado warning (I think it expires at 3). My poor mother was scared to death because she saw the reports on CNN and she called me a number of times to check on us. We were fine through it all though.
Last night we had our Christmas celebration here. As I was making sugar cookies I got my first gift: a Cuisanart Stand Mixer. I was trying to stir in 5 cups of flour into the batter and grumbling about the challenge of it (my wrists tend to bother me with repetitive motion stuff); Eric told me to take a break and then gave me my mixer (Merry Christmas!). He lucked out--didn't even need to wrap it! I used it to finish up my cookie dough and it is amazing! I am going to enjoy the heck out of this new appliance! It came with a mixing blade, a dough hook, and a whisk. Then, I made some macaroni and cheese from scratch (it was tasty, albeit a little dry cuz I baked it too long), and ham, with corn, and green beans for dinner, and the kids had dates/friends here for the party and meal. We did our family gift exchange to much laughter and fun. The kids were satisfied with their gifts for the most part, although a few still need to complete their shopping for the family. Baby Skye was awake for the gift opening, and she was enamored with the color and the noise, then went to sleep. I had knit socks for Eric (in black, as he requested), which I worked on when he was NOT home, which he loved, and I also surprised him with a Mascoutah Dad long-sleeved tee-shirt to wear for Aurora's bowling matches. I had also bought him a bowling ball, but he knew about that as he ordered what he wanted for himself. I picked it up but he still needs to have it drilled for himself. Between Eric's parents and my brother and his partner, Eric and I are set for some lovely evenings at the winery. We could not be happier with that! It is our getaway place, and we love it very much!
Aurora was thrilled with her gifts, and even more so, thrilled to be celebrating Christmas here at home with us. She had a difficult time at her mom's this year, for many reasons, and she wanted to be home. We got her a bowling ball for her big gift, and we also got her her letter jacket as her birthday gift, but she opened it so that she'd have something to open from us. Brie's big gift from us was a Cricut personal cutter--used for scrap-booking, and she was thrilled. She had borrowed Liisa's after the baptism for a week, and was sad to send it home. When I found one on sale we bought it a few months ago and had it tucked away til now. Patrick didn't have a big gift per se, as he got a book set he wanted and some video games, and Rei got clothes from us. Had to laugh that Rei and Patrick got the exact same t-shirt: one from us, the other from my nephew to Patrick. It'll make laundry interesting. Skye got some beautiful clothes from her relatives in Florida, as well as from her great grandparents and us. She needed them as she is growing like a weed.
Our Christmas in Minneapolis the weekend before was fabulous, and it was so hard to come home from so brief a trip. We drove up in challenging weather, and had a couple of near-misses on the slickery roads, but Eric is a wonderful driver and we arrived in one piece, albeit pretty tired. Eric napped til the company arrived at my mom's and I entertained the baby and helped my mom ready for guests. We had about 21 people there total for Christmas, and it was a traditional Heikkila Christmas. Justin and Alexis helped me open Skye's gifts up there, and she again got lots of wonderful clothes, as well as a couple of toys. The gifts we brought were big hits, including the quilts I made for my nieces. I am sorry to say I have no pictures as yet of the quilts because I finished them but didn't have time to photograph them, and my camera was not handy when the girls opened them. They were well received though and will be much loved. Memphis' has fairies on hers, 12 of them, and Maddie has wolves and northern MN animal silhouettes on hers. There was much noise, commotion, laughter, and love present. Christmas day Eric, Skye, and I went to Tony's house to see what my little kids got from Santa, then went to Liisa's to visit with her guests. Patrick and Rei had stayed at Liisa's overnight, and they ran the roads all Christmas day with Rei's friends. We left my mom's on Sunday morning around 10, grabbed the boys from Liisa's about 10:30, and were headed south by 11. We got home around 9:30 that night, again pretty worn out.
I finally gave in and took myself to the clinic on Tuesday to get my sinuses dealt with. I didn't have an active infection but the tissues were so swollen they were acting infected. I was put on mega-doses of prednisone to combat that, as well as a change in my allergy meds. I am definitely starting to feel better. This morning was the first one I didn't wake up sneezing my head off and blowing my nose. I also got an order to get a doppler scan of my left calf because I have been having intermittant pain just below my knee for about 2 months now as well. I figured it's time to get that addressed as well.
So today, for new year's eve, all the kids are off doing their own things. Aurora has left to go out to dinner with her boyfriend and his family, then they are off to the hockey game later on. Brie has left to go pick up her date for the evening, and they too are off to dinner later and then out for the evening. By default, Eric and I will be keeping Skye. My guess is Patrick and Rei will also be off with their respective groups of friends too, and Eric and I will make it a quiet night.
We have had lots of changes again this year, but it has been a good year. We are continuing to move forward in meeting hopes and dreams, and while the process is slow, it is a process and we do see some progress. Hopefully as this new year unfolds we will see increasing levels of maturity and growth in our young adults who live here at home, and our teens will successfully transition into their next facets of life. I pray this will be the year I finish my degree program and that Eric finds joy in his career choices. I am so very grateful for all the blessings we have been given, including my dear girlfriends who are never further away than a phone call. I am also grateful for our families and the time we have been blessed to spend with them this year. I hope that will be expanded over the coming year as well!
Happy New Year to all, and may God bless us all!
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